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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Odd title for a post? Yeah!
But that is whatShree Bosehas done.
As I watched the video, I fell in love with the young and enthusiastic person
over and over again. Shree Bose talked about two topics that are close to my heart. Listening to her, my admiration for her grew in leaps and bounds.
One was the topic of cancer which is matter of life and death to me, as
I am a survivor of breast cancer, stage III. I would not have survived if doctors had not found a way to treat cancer. Cancer has been a part of our lives as four out
of six members of my family (Dad, Mom,Sisterand I) have been through it. A young smart girl
who speaks about finding a cure for cancer instead of boyfriends, movies,
parties and lipstick gives me hope. Dedicated work from smart young people like her are our best hope of wiping the traces of cancer from our planet.

Another topic she won me over
with was about the education system and attitude of teachers towards children with
different needs. She mentioned how her brother, who was gifted kid, was asked
to be dumb down by his teacher. Good, her parents made wise decision of
allowing him to reach his full potential instead of holding him back just for the sake of acquiring a label of being normal.

If this is the struggle of a
smart kid, then anyone can imagine how tough it is for children with
challenges. Being a mom of special needs
girl and dyslexic boy, the education system that tries to dumb down children by
not allowing them to reach their full potential is something I feel very
passionate about. Shree’s attitude and handling of this topic along with her
passion for the work she does was very touching for me.

So, twice Shree Bose won my
heart over with her video. Though held tight on time and having urgent work to
attend to, I just could miss the opportunity of sharing my thoughts and
promoting her cause here today.

As asurvivor of
cancer, the word recurrence is
something I dread very much. The post I had written a while ago "Soak Us No More in
Fear" tells very much about
the way I feel. I know it is the same with almost every survivor. After
fighting cancer with all you have, going through chemotherapy, losing a part of
your body (breast in my case) and suffering the after effects - it is sad to
know that you are not even cured. Cancer is just put to sleep and rest. It can
come back any day stronger and more deadly to claim your life.Losing myMomandSisterto Cancer was devastating for me. I suffer from the
guilt and often ask myself the question Why not me? Why only them? The
emotional trauma was much more demoralizing than anything else. One of the reasons
why I decided to get into Counseling and Psychology so that I can reach out to
cancer affected people and ease their emotional pain. Cancer is a disease that
affects not only the sufferer but all the people around them.Shree Bose, who has experienced the death of a
loved one to cancer, will have more passion into her work than those who have
not experienced the pain. Kudos to Dr.Alakananda Basu, who took her under wings
and allowed the young lady to develop wings to soar out and reach the skies.
I wish her all her best in finding a solution to the menace of cancer
that claims so many lives world over.The second issue she talks about is as important
for me as finding cure for cancer. So many young children are forced to
dumb down due to our theory centered education system which forces them to
read, memorize and write down the answers dumbly on answer sheets; whether they
understand the topic or not. Hats off to the parents of Shree who refused to
allow the teachers to cripple the mind of their child. Every child is born with
different gifts which are neatly packed away. As parents it is our duty to find
this gift and unwrap it carefully. We cannot destroy the gift they have in
them...

If Newton
never told anybody about the law of gravity, if Edison would not have lit the
houses but instead if they had found the cure for cancer, I would still have my
Mom and Sister in my life. I would not mind lighting a lamp or not knowing
about gravity if I could save them from succumbing to cancer. Wishing Shree
Bose all the success in her venture.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

I was born in a tiny coastal town with endless beaches named
Byndoor. Though my parents moved to Bangalore and we grew up in the city, we
used to get occasional glimpse of our native village during the summer
holidays. After watching the towering mountains and vast waves of ocean, tours can
never be in city for me. Though I like to reside in Bangalore and love the
city, my idea of the perfect road trip in a car would be among the coastal
roads, jungles and hills surrounding my birth place. The national highway that runs from Kundapura to Byndoor can boast of the most enthralling nature's beauty you will ever come across. The pictures from my past journey's clicked by Rayyan should prove a point there, though I have to say that it is very tough to capture the real beauty in camera.

Provoked by AmbiPur India, our usual gang of
three (Rayyan, Farheena and I) choose Renault Duster 1.5 RxL110 to embark on ThePerfect Road Trip to get savor of the refreshing air and eye catching sights along the route of Bangalore to Byndoor. We have been teased throughout our lives by the wonderful glimpses we
catch as our bus climbs the Western Ghats and runs on the NH 17 (now NH 66) to reach our
town. We have dreamed of stopping our vehicle to enjoy the beauty of nature to
the fullest, instead of peeking at it through the windows of the bus; but, that never happened. Today is
the day when we are going to live that dream.

On mother’s day my son Rayyan had captured our life in
his simple drawings which tells everything. People come and go in our lives,
but I and my two kids have been the constant factor among the change. We eat,
travel, watch movies and play games together. We know the needs and
requirements of each other very well; we also have come realize our own personal
space and privacy. We are very happy together and love to share every adventure of our lives in each other's company. No wonder then the perfect trip would be when we three get on this dream
journey.

We leave our home in J P Nagar at 1 a.m. in the night. The odd hour of starting from our home will allow us to reach the Sakaleshpur just before sunrise so that we can watch the sunrise on the jungles of Western Ghats. Rightly so we reach Sakaleshpur around 4.30 a.m. and start our climb up the ghats. The straight road now starts to twist and turn like Sridevi from the film Nagina. As the light slowly starts to peep in through the hills and clouds, the jungle wakes up and starts to welcome the new day with various sounds.

Our Headlights Cutting Through the Darkness

First sign of Dawn

Is that a sun ray peeping through clouds?

Finally the sky brightens up

Seeing the day break through mist

We hear birds, monkeys and other animals all
making sounds but can see nothing. It looks as though the jungle itself is talking
to the skies.
We stop the car and wait for the light to brighten up the world
before we start savoring the beauty of nature that is abundantly strewn across our
way. Through the mist, the green trees start to show up slowly.

Roads of ghats that twist and turn like bollywood Nagins

After traveling some distance through the jungles, we reach Yettinahole
reservoir. The eye catching beautiful waters beckons us gurgling happily
through the mountains. We stop there and forget to breathe as we get lost in
the beauty of place. Both side of the road is covered by thick foliage of trees, some of them towering as though they want to reach the skies. We see birds and butterflies starting their day. No matter how long we gaze at the running water or swaying trees, we still cannot get enough of it. With heavy heart we get back into the car and start to drive once again.
As we continue to drive on the Bangalore –Mangalore highway,
the stream accompanies us on our journey happily, telling tales about the
happenings in the jungle. All of sudden we are blessed with the glimpse of
peacocks running near the stream. They soon disappear among the trees, but that
momentary glimpse of our national birds spreads smile on our faces for some
miles.
Sometime later the stream bids bye and moves away from the highway. Within
minutes we begin to miss its gurgling sound which accompanied us for more than
an hour.

We meet another river which crosses our way near
Uppinangady. We get down from the car once again to breathe the freshness that
is so elusive in the city we live. Though the air outside is cool and fresh from
the rains that has lashed the hills moments ago, we have to travel with windows
closed as the rain water and cool air makes us feel so uncomfortable as the car
moves. As we get back into our car, we feel the refreshing air inside too as
Ambi Pur spreads in the freshness through the AC that has been switched on. We travel and reach Mangalore in the morning
for refreshing ourselves and having our breakfast. The aroma of the coastal
delicacies invites our hungry stomach which has digested everything we had
gulped down the previous night as we passed through the Ghats. We eat the
steaming idlis and uddina wada. I wash it down with hot coffee as my children
drink hot milk.

From here the road takes turn and starts its journey on the coastal
region. The NH 66 runs very close to the sea shore. We can feel the salty air
of the beach and smell the fish as we run across the vendors on the road side.
We reach Udupi, a town with history of its own. We move around the town and
watch various temples and historic places that make it special. Later on we
again move towards our destination Byndoor running across Kundapura and a wonderful
place called Marvante. This is considered one of the most spectacular sights in India where the river Suparnika almost merges into the Arabian sea, before changing mind and turning away. At some point, only the NH and a small stretch of beach separates the two water bodies. We get down and enjoy the sight of the sea and beach. Our tired bodies demand we get back on the road and reach our destination.
We pass through the familiar scenes, yet we cannot take our eyes off the natures beauty that keeps us spellbound throughout our journey

Marvanthe is a place where a river runs very close to sea

Soon we reach our native village which boasts of its
wonderful Someshwara Beach. Here people can wade into water up to quite some distance safely as the shoreline
is pretty shallow up to nearly a kilometer or so. It also has an ancient Saneshwara Temple,
beautiful sights of sunset point on Ottinene hills, Holy Cross church perched on hill, Beach Resort, and our own antique home. By now we are tired and want to
crash into our bed and sleep the day off. We do that after having lunch. It is amazing that by evening we are ready to run to the
beach and enjoy the sunset. This is paradise, where we watch the sunrise in the
jungle and then enjoy the sunset on the beach. If there is a Perfect Road Trip we can ever embark, than this is it.

Beautiful Sunset on Someshwara Beach of Byndoor

This blog post is a part of The Perfect Road Trip Contest organized on Indiblogger by Ambi Pur CarThis is my Idea of the perfect road trip which is yet to happen. The pictures have been collected through the times we have been travelling from Bangalore to Byndoor.